Back In that Dark Room, With a Body Laying Next To Her

Ming Sha put the red booklets back and left the study.

Inside the little hut, it was two a clock in the morning. Jo finally stoop up from the floor, but because she hadn't eaten or drank in two days, her body was too frail and she collapsed again on the floor. She stayed there for another few minutes, then she stretched her hand and grabbed the glass of water from the nearby tray. She chugged the water in a flash, choking instantly. Cough... cough... it was so long ago since she had drank anything and she had forgotten how it felt.

After a while, the girl felt better. Jo also finished the food in the plate and went to the toilet to take a shower. Jo had in that little hut all the necessities, towels, toiletries there was even a pad with a rubber pencil. Basically all the necessities that couldn't harm her. The quantity of the shampoo wasn't enough if she wanted to drink it and poison herself. At most it gave her an indigestion, the same went for the toothpaste and soap.

In the cupboard she had two sets of pyjamas, some towels and another clean maids uniform. After she showered, she sat on the bed with her back arched low and her hands clutched together on her legs. This definitely wasn't a dream, she was no longer in the dark. After a while, Jo laid in the bed and fell asleep.

The next morning, Butler Gu, as usual was walking on a narrow path, through the garden with a plate of hot western food and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. He opened the door flap and he was shocked by the sight. Madam ate yesterday's food and now was sleeping on the bed. His body was suddenly swarmed by warmth and a sense of relief, even a faint smile danced on his lips. He replaced the emptied food tray, for a fresh one and left.

A few days later, in the middle of the night, Ming Sha put on a long rain coat, covering her head with its hoodie and went to the garden. At the end of the narrow path, she took out a key and unlocked the door.

Inside, Jo was laying on the bed almost drifting into the surreal world, when she heard an unlocking noise. She instantly became alert but she didn't move, nor opened her eyes. Ming Sha entered the room and headed towards the bed, she pulled out a dagger from her coat and aimed it at the sleeping girls heart, using all her force and shouted. "B**ch! You're not worthy!!!".

Jo opened her eyes instinctively and caught the girls arm in mid air, then she flung the maids body away, her head hitting the wall hard. Ming Sha didn't expect Jo to hold so much force and she thought she was already sleeping, so she was caught off guard. The dagger flew on the floor and she was in a daze from the hit she received on her head.

Jo got up, grabbed the dagger and slit the girls neck in the next moment. Only after she saw the blood gushing out from the lifeless body, she realised what she had done. Before she could be enveloped by fear and panic the girl dropped the dagger and ran into the bathroom. She turned on the shower and leaned against the cold wall and slid down. I am dead... I am dead anyway... I died at the restaurant's doors. A man dressed in black with a scar on his face ended my life with a sword.

Jo kept repeating these words to herself, trying to erase the guilt from taking another person's life. She convincing herself that she was already dead and she no longer held any morals. The girl stayed there pensive for a few hours, her skin had become wrinkly by now. What was done was done, so she only had to roll with it now.

Jo turned off the water dried herself up with the towel and exited the toilet. The gruesome scene on the floor, didn't seemed so terrifying anymore. The lights were off and a little beam of moon light, was coming in through the ceiling window. Jo sat on the bed looking at the corpse in the room. It felt like she was back in that dark room, with a body laying next to her.

A few minutes later, Jo grabbed a towel and wiped all the blood from the floor. She searched the body for anything useful, then shoved it under the bed. Then she hid the dagger, in the cupboard between her clothes. It was still dark outside and from her perspective this girl had a personal vendetta, if they wanted her dead, they could do it openly at any time of day or night, so she must have acted solo.

Jo went to the toilet again and sat on the lid of the loo. This maid had her phone with her, so she opened it but it was locked. Luckily it was a fingerprint password, so Jo went quickly into the room, grabbed the body's hand from under her bed and pressed the finger on the fingerprint pad. The Phone unlocked, the girl never felt more alive than right now at this moment. She opened google and the keypad popped up, it was in Chinese. Her face fell... luckily it was a Samsung phone, so she knew how to reset it. Jo pressed the up volume key, with the lock key, at the same time for five seconds and a reset from factory notification popped up on the screen, at least this was in English.

The girl reinstalled the phone with her account details in English, and started doing some research. She went on google maps to check her location. She was located in the suburbs of Beijing in a mansion called the Phoenix Estate. She researched further and found out that the estate belonged to a very wealthy and handsome man. Jo pondered over his picture longer than she should have and skipped to another website. This was a platform she used to get floor plans for properties, that were submitted to local councils for approval. In all the countries one had to submit an application form to open a construction site.

She planned to retrieve those plans and learn the layout of the house, maybe she could sneak out. She managed to retrieve a lot of plans, including some RCP's (reflected ceiling plans) and the security system plan. The later showed her where all the surveillance cameras were located, what system was being used and what code series the particular product had. She didn't expected to be so lucky and find all the information she needed from one single platform. The only concern left were the natural deterrents. For example bodyguards and

guard dogs, she couldn't fool them even if she had a thousand lives.

The light in the room was becoming brighter, Jo realised that soon would be morning and breakfast would be served. She jumped off the bed and took the freshly washed bed sheet from the toilet. She laid it back on the bed, it was a valance sheet and it dropped all the way to the floor, so the body underneath the bed wasn't visible. She took the shampoo and spread it on the floor, cleaning it again from the blood smell. Then she took the toothpaste and smeared some around the edge of the door flap. The strong smell of metal coming from the blood was hard to remove, she then set the room as it was before and locked the door from the inside. Jo turned the phone on silent, she had about 20% battery left, so she had to use it wisely.

Half an hour later the flap was lifted and a fair hand emerged through the gap, grabbing the empty tray from the platform, that was bolted in the door. A new tray was but in place and the light foot steps seemed to fade away into the distance. This time from the look of the hand and the sound of the steps, there must have been a female maid who delivered the food. Jo hopped she was stupid enough and didn't detect the foul smell in the room.

The day passed without a hitch, that maid was stupid indeed. Jo drew quickly the estate plans on the pad provided, marking all the security cameras. By the time the night fell, she memorized everything and went out to survey her surroundings.

The layout of the exterior was pretty much the same, she also confirmed that the location of the surveillance cameras were correct and the model was the same, as per the plans she downloaded. There were no dogs, but she saw that quite a few bodyguards were patrolling and guarded the gates constantly, for her to make a clean escape was quite dangerous. The estate was in the middle of a forest and the next road was miles away. Let's say that she managed to leave through the gates unnoticed, but later on they would catch up with her in no time, so she better think of another way to escape she had to change her strategy quickly, before the body under her bed would start decomposing.

Maybe she should seize the house.